The Importance of Accurate Time Tracking During Summer Vacations

Summer vacation season can be a hectic time for any small business. Accurate time tracking is essential so your workers can take the time off they've earned. You also don't want to find your business short-staffed because too many employees are vacationing at the same time. Time-tracking software can make your summer vacation payroll management much easier while keeping you in compliance with your state's labor laws.

Here's a closer look at why accurate time tracking during the summer vacation months is so important.

Vacations and Employee Performance

Polling from the Pew Research Center indicates that almost half of American workers (46 percent) don't use all the paid time off that they've earned. This can lead to high stress, employee burnout, and decreased efficiency for your business. Whether they admit it or not, workers need PTO to "recharge their batteries" and for proper work-life balance.

Best practices for employers include clearly articulating your vacation policy to workers. You can also encourage them to schedule any planned time off well in advance. This helps in scheduling vacations so that there's not too much overlap between vacationing employees, which would reduce business efficiency.

Benefits of Accurate Time Tracking

• Precise Calculations: Accurate time tracking helps to ensure that every employee is compensated fairly for the hours they work. A payroll software system then ties the hours that every employee works directly to your paid time off policy. The improved accuracy of payroll software is also important for record-keeping and compliance with labor laws.
  
  
• Better Resource Allocation: If multiple key employees try to use their vacation time at the same time, it could cause serious headaches for your business. Time tracking software allows you to stagger vacation time as necessary. This, in turn, lets you adjust schedules and maximize efficiency, even when employees are taking their much-deserved PTO.
  
  
• Strategic Decision-Making: Time-tracking software can issue reports that reveal important data related to efficiencies, project management, and employee performance over time. This allows business owners to make strategic, data-driven decisions. For example, if you're planning to launch a major new project, you might want to delay it until key employees have taken their vacation time. They'll come back to work refreshed and ready to hit the ground running, rather than trying to get a project going when they're stressed or burned out.
  
  
• Compliance with Labor Laws: There are currently 27 states that require employers to provide paid time off to employees, based on hours worked, seniority, dependents, and other factors. Time-tracking software helps you to stay in compliance with any state labor laws that apply to your business. You'll know exactly which employees are owed PTO and how much they're owed at all times.

Time Tracking Software and Payroll Solutions

Payday's employee management tools are built to make time tracking much easier year-round. Employee hours are tracked precisely, so you know how much PTO everyone has earned. Our employee self-service kiosk allows workers to log in and see exactly how much PTO they've accrued. They can use the system to request time off, and managers can approve vacations immediately.

It also serves as an important communication tool in the employer/employee relationship. You can send employees notes reminding them that they've earned vacation time, which can help ensure that they will use it.

Contact Payday today to learn more about our advanced time-tracking solutions and how they can help you manage shift changes and workflow as your employees are taking their earned PTO.